New Zealand Railways

South Island, New Zealand, December 2000

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Timaru

A ......waits in the yard

December 19th, 2000 - With very limited time and a very elusive quarry, finding trains to photograph in New Zealand was an uphill task. The number of operational passenger trains was negligible; at the time only one ran each way on the three routes radiating from Christchurch, and that has since been reduced further. The once extensive branch line system has all but vanished but some freight remains on the main lines from Christchurch south to Invercargill, west to Greymouth and north to Picton. The first major city on the southern route is Timaru and it is here that these photographs were taken on a warm sunny day.

5241, a ........, seen earlier in the week southbound at Oamaru, arrives on a northbound freight

Oamaru

The station at Oamaru has seen better days, and it is now home to a taxi firm and little else. There was once a thriving port here but little remains

However the city's prosperous past is reflected in a number of magnificent buildings. In late evening, 5241, southbound, crosses the main north-south highway of New Zealand's South Island at the bottom of the main street

Dunedin

Dunedin's station still retains some of the magnificence of a building built to serve South Island's second largest city. It is home to the Taieri Gorge Railway, which operates tourist excursions based on Dunedin. Three of the locomotives from this service are stabled in a bay platform. They are DJ Class 3211, 3107 and another, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1968/9

Gore

Gore is another station which has come upon hard times having been replaced by the equivalent of a bus shelter further out of town. Glimpsed over the stock of a used car lot, 4830 heads south towards Invercargill with a freight

At a crossing south of Gore, the once-daily southbound passenger train heads towards Invercargill headed by....